And yes, we can do it if we want to, but the political reality is that we don't seem to want to. You can think all sort of things about that, but that's just how it is.
And in the US specifically, the political reality is pretty fucked in all sorts of ways (that is my polite opinion) and I'm not expecting any significant movement on this in the foreseeable future.
For the record, the U.S. is reported at 1.7% poverty levels; not much above Sweden's levels.
I don't know you or your background, but I think of people who are relatively well off (i.e. programmers and the like) don't quite grasp how much harder everything is if you're working low-income minimum wage jobs. It's perhaps not "poverty" by some measured standard, but it sure isn't easy sailing either.
I don't think so. It's been done plenty of times in Europe. You can do it if you want to.
> I also don't think it's all merely poverty or mental illness
I agree. I think that's just the easiest place to start to knock out a whole hell of a lot of what's going on in the US.
> Reality of the matter is, if you're opposed to gun control then you're making the trade-off that these type of things will happen
Definitely, but they shouldn't be happening at the rate that they are. I think everyone sees that.
(Cool username btw.)